Category Archives: Islam

History Taps Us On The Shoulder. In Our Embarrassment We Hurry For Justifications

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In advance and nothing to do with the subject matter. Sorry about the ragged look on this post and odd gaps…You guessed it WP is up to its quirks again. I lost the post once trying to fix it- thank goodness I had created my own back-up.

The chances are you are not going to like this post. You may be affronted. You may be angered. And I will be repeating a few themes from earlier posts. In my defence I am merely citing History and Consequences. There are always consequences. They sometimes arise from well-meaning intentions but usually from Ignorance, a quality Humanity is rich in.

Historical Overview
So where do we start? Take a place in history for your starting point on a subject matter and there will always be a ‘before’ which gave rise to it. In this case a starting point could be the oft misquoted Matthew 27:25 “So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” .And thence forth an entire people take the blame for a mob hyped up for political reasons by local power players. Blame all the Jews. Blame all the Americans for slavery? Blame all the British, every single one for The Empire- including the most devoted socialist radical? Blood curse. Every nation can sign up for that one.

Anyway fast forward through European history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Massacres_of_Jews
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Anti-Jewish_pogroms
This doesn’t include the day to day discriminations, slights, jibes, harassments, expulsions and so forth or the appropriations of wealth, nor the cynical ploy by kings / nobles to get out of the loans they owed Jewish financiers.

Roughly speaking Europe can rack up a thousand years of persecution of Jews. Mind you Europeans over the same period racked up other persecutions at an alarming rate, and there were responses which were allowed through applications of historical PR  to morph into ‘Fights / Struggles for Freedom’ and gain a certain romantic aura. What those folk did when they got their freedom and their patch of land was of course their own business, that would be skirted over, unless you happened to be in a minority there.

In some part; moving outside Europe two empires began to decline Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman and the double edged scythe of Nationalism began to take selective root. Our attention should focus on what we now term the Middle East and its various populations, alone they would have been turbulent enough but The Jewish Identity now sensed the time honoured words at the end of Passover “L’Shanah Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim” “Next year in Jerusalem,” might in this turbulent time of opportunity come to fruition. Within European Empires, Britain in particular sensing an advantage there grew a certain level of support, some political, some sentimental and some complicated contradictory religious. ‘Jews were almost acceptable, quite civilised and hardworking’. ‘They could have land, after all there were only a few Arabs there and what did they count for’. European Empire did a lot of that in those days, making sweeping generalisations ‘adopt’ one folk to suit their purposes and the rest would have to put up with it. At the onset there were Jews who were quite aware of there were not just Arabs but Palestinians and hoped as optimists do that the land could be fairly shared and both communities could live in harmony. It would have been a First in Human History. In the meantime the Jewish ‘re-settlement’ of ‘their’ land began, as if the previous two thousand years of later occupations didn’t count. Well this was their land, and as far as they could tell after all those centuries  Europe and also the growing USA had made it obvious they would rather Jews be somewhere else. In the meantime The Palestinians had found their identity

There came to turbulences of two World Wars. Britain and France having already made a paper parcel up of the Middle East  under Sykes Picot agreement were granted ‘mandates’ and proceeded for approximately thirty years use heavy-handed insensitive methods. Britain in particular unable to make up its mend whether to allow Jews in or not. World War One and the aftermath was deadly enough, then came the greater upheavals and atrocities of World War Two. In the event of that one it was obvious to many a surviving Jew there was only one place to go and if the locals didn’t like it, well the Jewish folk had been taught by their European overlords just how to settle that sort of problem.
Quite out of their depth and exhausted by the recent wars Britain managed to anger both Palestinians and now Israelis. Recently independent Arab nations found temporary on and off common cause with Palestinians, The Cold War found another place to have its conflicts without the danger of nuclear weaponry and the USA and USSR chose sides. What had been inter-communal violence had now grown into conventional and insurgent warfare. Roughly speaking there has been at least one hundred years of conflict.

An Assessment
Firstly it has to be accepted that there are very few, if any Human races, nations, regions and communities who have clean histories, Deep History, Recent Past or Current Day. A brief survey of Historical, Human Rights, UN and yes even CIA yearbook internet sites will give you enough enlightenment, reasons for cynicisms or cause for depression on that score. No one people. No one nation. No one history gets away with it. Accept it. When it comes to Races and Nations there are no Romantic and Noble Histories.
There are only degrees, qualities, quantities and consistencies of bad behaviour. Action. Reaction. Payback. Victory. Suppression. Subjugation, all the ugly, polluted stuff massaged later on, into justifications or if that doesn’t work just written out.

Warning: You may find some part hereon in particularly offensive. In my own defence I am passing commentary of the whole of The Human Race by citing examples. Those who read my posts regularly will be used to this.   

To repeat by the 20th Century sections of the Jewish people had learnt the lessons from their European rulers, hard and well. True, like the rest of us, they had not come into this world innocent and unconditionally tolerant, The Old Testament has a certain historical foundation to indicate that. What had been revealed to them that even existence was conditional. At any random time, be it by policy, just plain bigotry or random, rabid ignorance there could be assault, destruction of community or worse wholescale death. For a section of the Jewish communities  the lesson was simple. you battle to survive, and that is best done on what was and is again your ancestorial home ground. The whole world was against you -1939 to 1945 was the final grand example in centuries worth of selective violence. For the hardliners and for those who, well just wanted the persecution to stop, the answer was ‘Here We Are. Here We Stay. Back Where We Started. Never mind these protestations of justice, the ethics, the historical changes, the rights of others. No. no they don’t count. Europeans taught us that’. 

Did the Palestinians becoming a punching bag for centuries of pent up anger? Or was it just the old story of  a case of hard luck on the natives when the colonists arrive ? Maybe a mix of the two adding a few local undercurrents that Americans and Europeans just don’t get.

One thing is noticeable. Normally folk or nations get weary of prolonged wars. Populations run out along with resources. Political Castes get fed up with the whole business because they are unpopular and something approach a peace or very, very long truce evolves. This one if different. One hundred plus years and no end in sight. Worse, even harder liners have taken centre stage. By all the conventions and examples this one should have run down. Of course it is only one of a whole mix of wars running the length and breadth

from Turkish regions down the Middle East, North Africa, into the Sahel, along through Sudan and Yemen, then across into Iran. And meanwhile Ukraine. Maybe there is just no appetite for Peace Talks anymore, you and your sponsors try and batter down the other side, and the World Community which has its own problems will just have to accept it. Another old story, only these days it gets played out on the Media. ‘Why should one war matter more than ours?’ ask the innocents trying to survive wherever they are.

A Judgement ( ‘A’ – not ‘The’. Chose ) 
One overview is the current Israeli government has to concern itself with only two major support groups. The diaspora of the world-wide Jewish Community and the American  coalition of Fundamentalist Christians, Islamaphobes and ‘Israel is the Only True Friend We Have’ lobbies. Israel’s security service Mossad may well chuckle at that simplistic view. In our innocence we remain ignorant of who else while lamenting publicly would not secretly worry too much if the Palestinians were broken as a state (that will put an end to Hamas…right?). ‘No one people. No one nation.’ ‘We are Flawed’     

Honest to Badness it is so easy to write copy to support the Israeli Government to assuage to hardliners and the traumatised Israeli populations

It works like this:
‘Where was World Opinion and the unofficial Human Rights activists, when
The Rohingya were being massacred in Myanmar?
The Turkic Uyghur being culturally wiped out in China?
The innocents of Sudan and South Sudan being slaughtered or mass raped?
Iranian Women were being beaten, imprisoned and dying for wanting to wear clothes other than for proscribed by the state. Like wise in Afghanistan?
Does anyone care about the Muslims or Christians in India?
Why were there not demonstrations en mass on the streets of major cities in the world every week. Were there cases of natives or communities of expats of those nations being harassed by demonstrators masking as protests?
No that sort of thing only happens when the Jewish State of Israel is involved. It’s always the Jews which are the target. ‘

That only took the time to play three songs of average length on my cd player to write that. So easy. Why was it so easy? Because the Western campaigners make it damn easy to do so. That’s why. Best friends the current Israeli government ever had. And of course makes Antisemitism respectable too. ‘No I am not Antisemitic I am just Anti-Israel’ (Quit saying that, it’s getting old and only helps Netanyahu and his cabinet). There was a petition on Facebook asking for condemnation of Israel attacking Iran. Well I am sorry and weep for the innocents on both sides of the missile exchange but pardon my frankness. I do not fret over the fate of a regime or its active members also complicit in the spreading wars through the Middle East nor with a history of bloody suppression of its own Arab and other ethnic minorities or the treatment of its women. As I write this the news is out and about that The USA has come in and bombed Iranian nuclear sites. My initial reaction was ‘Gee. I wonder where this will go now?’ and ‘Hmm. Who was last in Trump’s Office before he took that decision?’ . Horror and condemnation of Israel….No. They’re all locked into together in a labyrinthian dance. It happens. Again History is littered with this. Spare me the outrage against Israel taking a swipe at Iran. And while I’m in this snarky mood. Those who didn’t vote for Biden /Harris because of their stance over Israel, how is that working out for you these days?

An aside: Actually my ire is not wholly directed at Americans who have been horrified at the IDF action meted out on the Palestinians. You in general are relatively new to this ‘world’. Of course you have been aware of the issues. But traditionally in the European Left’s lexicon you were all to blame for the Middle East by all of you being pro-Israel. I say this as you may not have been aware it, But since the same Left was only too swift to have excuses for Russia for invading Ukraine because it had no choice; the whole fault was due to the USA ‘s Imperialism, honestly I wouldn’t pay attention to that judgement, not since MAGA was doing the same thing. Selective, biased thinking just doesn’t cover it.

Let me just dial back over the history of these ‘Campaigns Against Israel’ or ‘For A Free Palestine’ . If folk had cared so very much why had they not made common cause with those groups of Israelis who had been working to this end. Why had they not affiliated or supported, them. There were enough examples

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meretz

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da%27am_Workers_Party

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_Olam

And lest any campaigner out there has forgotten 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivian_Silver

Once I was on a Facebook site where everyone was piling in with Who Can Be The Most Outraged Against Israel game and I mentioned support for Meretz and there was a silence, like I veered off onto Quantum Physics. Nothing. I gave up on them.
It’s very hard not to feel a substantial number of folks particularly in Europe are more concerned about Israel being a Jewish state with links to the USA than actual Palestinians. Yes, there we are The Old Game…..(Those Jews y’know).  

History points at us in The West and holds us in large guilty for Israel being Israel as it is today. A thousand years of hard lessons, decades of turning a blind eye to the excesses of those who are against Israel, little or no co-operations with those Israelis who had worked tirelessly to formulate some sort of accord. Sanctimonious commentaries about banning this and boycotting that. Wearing their I am NOT antisemitic badges on their sleeves but only, only protesting about Israel and no other regime. You will have to pardon my bluntness here. USELESS. ABSOLUTELY USELESS. All they did was cause the wagons to be circled.

Final Words     

‘Fine words Roger.’ You say. ‘You’ve torn apart the West and shredded the Protest movements. Anyone can pull down things. What solutions have you to offer?’

Well I don’t have quick fixes. It will be a very long, hard road because so much damage has been done. It starts will small steps. For a beginner have nothing to do with anyone targeting Synagogues like they had a direct line to the Israeli government. If anyone supports them on Social Media, you get back at them. Condemn them. You reach out to both Muslim and Jewish folk in equal measure. If you can find any groups within Israel still working for reconciliation, support them.

https://www.allmep.org/

If you come across anyone setting up another protest against Israel asking them what action they took against other abusive bloody-handed regimes?  If they are of the sort who make excuses simply reply ‘Sorry I do not do Selective’ . By all means donate to causes intending to give aid to the ordinary Palestinian, just makes sure Hamas and Iran do not have their hook in there. And for Pity Sake- Hamas is not a group of noble freedom fighters. Amnesty International has had them on the radar for years.    

Compassion. Respect. Tolerance for People, By People. That is how you measure things.

Final sign off. You know the really sick irony? The big dirty joke by and on Western Humanity?

Who are the groups most likely to be subject to random judgements, abuse and violence.
Jews and Muslims- that who. Some joke huh? Laugh?……I never even started, just used a great deal of bad words.

OK, I’m done here.  

An Open Essay To The Current Protestors of The USA On And Off Campus

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US protests

Foreword: For those not familiar with my site. Just a brief introduction. British. 73 years old. Christian (slightly heretical- I’ll square it with God when the time comes) . Left Winger but not of a type you would be likely to recognise. 65 years with an interest in and an affinity to the USA. 60 years interest in politics. A possible affinity to Martin Luther of Eiseben without the vitriolic antisemitism common to his time. OK. That’s me. Let’s get down to issues.

Warning
There will be harsh statements, there will be very uncomfortable points of view, there will be a number reminders about The World, there will be questions asked of the reader, directly. And there will no simple arguments or points of view or answers 

Overview
It has to be accepted that the current one of the many outbreaks of full scale violence between Israelis and Palestinians has attracted the attention of the world. Emotions are running high as well as broadly justifiable feelings at the violence and the loss of life. Looking out from my allegorical window you must accept me thinking. ‘What a pity such demonstrations had not been expressed in other recent times for other peoples in their own sufferings through violence. The events were on accessible on the news and received sustained coverage on the Internet,’ I am not just discussing Ukraine here. Just check the word ‘Genocide’ and look back over the past twenty years. That said we must move on, for there is a future to discuss. We can learn from The Past. We may act upon The Present. But We must prepare for The Future. Your Future. The Future of Children, Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren.

Next, something about The Past and The Nature of Events.

Events, Reactions and ‘Causes’. The Shadows and Shrouds of History
Political and Social Events which make the news do not have simplistic backgrounds, they have complex histories, and History has a way of extending itself back and back and back. There is no sudden start point. Back into the deep past there will be a gradual build up of a momentum which at some juncture reaches the Deluge or Avalanche or Earthquake stage and from there on those Earlier Events will have a strong resonance in the causes of Subsequent Events, and so on. Each one causing its own set of ripples or fault lines, criss-crossing the Human Geography of Peoples and their Communities, while calling up the echoes and resonances of the Past at a pace and frequency which leaves the observer possibly embracing the notion that Time is not linear or moving in one direction.

To witness October and onwards and put these in full focus requires what some would call an unsatisfactory and arguably heartless approach. Some would in the spirit of outrage at the loss of life simply deny. Usually these opening words of mine would be a conclusion of a paragraph. In this case just take them as warning of where we are going, a place where Death and Ruination have often walked, and the participants comfort themselves with many justifications, which depending on your view can appear strong but reasonable. We start in A Place which will have a focus in History. 7th October 2023. A concerted incursion by Hamas into Israel causing a very heavy loss of Life.

Of those protesting ‘Regrettable’ some might say. Even condemnatory. However they will add, for there is often an ‘However’ in these matters ‘Just look at the way Israel has treated the Palestinians. That is terrible and has been going on for so many years’ . Well in the harsh prism of History, yes that is an understandable, even acceptable outlook. Treat a people badly and there will be a violent reaction. There is a problem though with that line. The Jewish peoples of Europe (Russia gets included whether it likes it or not) for one thousand years or more were subjected to similar treatments and killings. When they finally get back to what they call their lands they have a long history of their own justifications. They learnt from ‘Europe’ (since there still appears to be a majority of American citizens who can trace European ancestry that includes You too). Therefore the tacit acceptance argument which is used for Hamas gets comparably morphed with a bloody swiftness and ease into one of ‘understanding’ the Israeli approach. Still be horrified? By all means be so? Tell me I am distorting the position? Be outraged. Point out that the death toll in Palestine exceeds that of Israel 30 fold. That is your right. Of course.

Now dip into the bloody, wide, deep, tribute river of War, one that ever flows from the larger River History.  350,000-500,000 German civilians in the allied strategic bombing campaign of WWII. 70,000 British civilians in the German aerial campaigns by bomb or rocket. True that is ‘only’ 7 fold. At the time the governments accepted the other sides losses- ‘they started it’. Thus do not be surprised at the Israeli response. It is one that takes place with regularity throughout the world throughout the ages, and no one seems to have a solution which puts an end to it.

You may now, if you wish express more outrage, only please do not accuse me of justifying Israel’s response. I am merely pointing out to you the Horror. This is how it works. I cite a few others. Ask the Syrian’s. Ask those Chechen folk not in a warlord’s pay, ask the Tamils, ask the Uyghurs, ask The Iranian Women and the Afghan Women (although the latter two were not bombed or shelled, just beaten up and locked up, only ‘a few’ died the other thousands upon thousands only live in terror and cohesion, and being locked up ). Ask the Women where Rape is used as a weapon of war. Keep on asking. You should. Keep on asking. For if you have taken up the Palestinian Cause, it does not end there, not in this troubled turbulent dangerous world. Marching on one Embassy, up and down one street is not going to trouble the worshipers at the Triple Altars of Death and Ruin and Oppression

“We can learn from The Past. We may act upon The Present. But We must prepare for The Future.”

Into Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Now to you. You who have taken up a Cause. You who have felt the need to protest. What will you do now?
Pack up and say ‘I did my bit’, then go onto the ‘rest of your life’
Continue with the Palestinian Cause
Or sign up for the Great Struggle.-The one where the Oppressors, Merchants of Violence, Hate Mongers, and Opportunists With Guns are legion. The one where the victims are counted in their millions, be they dead, dying, sick, injured, terrorised, brutalised, violated and ever on the move or sitting in hapless squalor. All located somewhere on the inside pages of a newspaper, maybe mentioned as a filler on a news channel, or when some anniversary comes along, or to be found by following a few links on the net. Those dead and those anguished faces, along with those dulled-eyed with the whole horror, forgotten. What comfort do they have? A few dogged journalists? Charities working ever hard?

If you are truly honest, if you truly care, you will learn a lesson from this time in Palestine and in the South West of Israel. You will realise there is no respite, there is no time to congratulate and go home to Sunshine and Lollipops. Hate. Violence. They never rest. They are never cowed permanently. If you are not ever alert, keeping a weather eye, willing to challenge not just your government but the ones who gave the acquiescence to pull the triggers, then somewhere, somewhen Some Folk will be suffering. One episode of protest does not cut it. If you care, you do not get to select the Cause. The Causes will come to you and ask for at least some attention.

Just take some time out and take a lot at the Amnesty site, or Medicins San Frontières’ or UNHCR, or – you just look.

Did you? Will you? When you do, be prepared for the shock and the feeling of absolute helplessness. Be ready to say without thinking ‘But I Can’t Be Everywhere!’.

No you can’t. Nor can those in the charities which work through the world. They try and they spread slender resources. I know how you feel. I challenge myself every day. As I write this the nagging thought  burrows deeper. ‘Fine Words. Now What Else Are You, Roger, Going To Do?’ and ‘Do you know you are in danger of sounding like John Bolton. An old guy demanding younger folk sacrifice themselves for your ideals?’ 

But I am not trying to stir the passive or the complacent or the apathetic. I am addressing You, those who have seen it right and just to take up a Cause, remember it is but one piece of a larger, bloodied ghastly picture where blood, tears and body parts are the paints and the canvas is human skin.

This in Palestine, as it did in Ukraine, in Syria will pass from the headlines, it already has started. At least it made the headlines. Learn then from this which will become the Past and realise there will be more of the same next year and the year after and so on. Unless we all in same way, somehow, some-constantly do whatever we can, how we can, where we can, when we can.

My generation with its flowers, face paints, gaudy clothes and music which at times was over-long and self-indulgent, we quite frankly failed. We went to a music festival or two, we might have marched, most certainly purchased the right albums, and then? We in the UK voted in Margaret Thatcher, You in the USA did likewise with Ronald Regan and two Bushes (the elder Not So Bad, The Younger in Comparison with now…?). And in our later years We welcomed Boris Johnson and Brexit and  You let Donald Trump, the Action Toy of MAGA be placed in the Whitehouse. Don’t fall into the trap of complacency or that curse of ageing which tends to set in in the 40s the ‘Huh! In My Day’ response as if what will take place will be nothing to do with us ‘We did our bit’
Yes, about that

One Final Message, Wrapped Up In Fable, A Warning And Even Admonishment

And this year. This possibly fateful year. The one which made decide whether the USA carries on, stumbling as do all nations, or slides off that time-honoured road, down the one where there are always storms and you can only just make out the sign-post ‘Warning. Rock Slides Ahead’. You have seen the intentions of the Right, you have heard the ravings of the spolied Brat who did not forgive for losing the last Presidential Election. To elaborate let me tell you that fable:

There was this guy. A man of simple Christian Faith, who prayed every morning, noon and night. He did not doubt God for a minute.
One day he hears on the radio a severe weather warning, storms are on their way, bringing heavy flooding. At once he gets down on his knees and prays to God to protect and deliver him. The rains start, the worst he has ever seen. He prays. A little later, a knock at the door, a police officer is there ‘Sir. You’re house is in danger of being hit by the flood. You best evacuate,’. The man assures the officer God will protect him, he will pray. The officer doesn’t argue, he’s got more houses, anyhow the fellow will soon change his mind when the waters come. The waters come, his house is cut off. An emergency crew in a boat turn up, hailing him. He tells them the same thing. They get a call on the radio, a woman not far off is in labour. Well she comes first. Off they go. The waters rise. The man is now on the roof, still praying. Along comes a rescue helicopter. He waves them off calling up that God will protect him. The crew have been on a long shift, the storm is getting worst. They can’t hang around, they got kids to save. So the house is swept away and he drowns.
He arrives at Heaven’s Gate, greeted by and angel with a clipboard. The man complains at sound length about how he prayed and yet still was drowned, How does that figure? Why didn’t God listen and  help? The angel consults his clipboard.
‘Well dear friend. God sent you a radio warning. God sent you a police officer. God sent you a rescue crew. In the end God sent you a helicopter. What more did you want?’

So then, I ask you, in all sincerity. What is this business about not supporting Biden? Have you not had enough warnings about what the Right has in store for you and the rest of the USA? They’ve made it very clear, give them that. They are going to roll up their sleeves and they are going to do their level best to sweep away liberal reforms. They are going to display their ignorance of socialism, squawk about this ‘woke’ word like crows with indigestion, get hysterical about what other folk do in their privacy, pick bits out of the Bible like stale crumbs and their followers are going to love it, then as a special treat they will throw minorities to the mob.

I would ask you, do you think, not just for one spasm of angry thought, but as a whole agenda that your selective punishment of Biden over Palestine is going to help those folk? Must I remind you that the alternatives are locked into an style of Christian Fundamentalism that is quite content for Israel to do this? If Trump gets back in the Whitehouse and you still stuck with your own fundamentalist agenda then you in part will be responsible for any more Palestinian deaths. Yes. Cause and Effect are terrible twins. In this ever tightening world none of us are actually free of them, but some choices can have more bitter effects than others. You do not get to try and parse your way out of this one. It is Biden or it is Trump. You cannot hide from that brutal truth. This World I have to emphasise is ever complex, nothing is easy, nothing is straightforward, nothing has but one answer. It is all hard work and dirty words like Compromise, Accommodation, Acceptance, Deals, Manoeuvre, Politics and all the rest that get the job done. You might wish for a better one, you might even be working for a better one, but in the meantime, you have this one.
There are other implications to punishing Biden and the danger of letting Trump in. Other aspects you will have to take in part-responsibility. You will have to explain to the LGBT+ community, to women living in fear of getting pregnant, to librarians, to minority groups, to teachers, to the future casualties and families of mass killings how your stance in punishing Biden was the right moral choice.

I am aware I appear cutting, but there is no other way. Implications hang heavy on the shoulders of anyone taking up a cause. They have the challenge of getting the balance right. and the challenge which turns inevitably into a responsibility. There is no way out. Nothing is simple. Ever. You might call me cynical. You are mixing that up with Realism. If I was cynical I would not have taken ten hours over four days out of my time to work on this. (That doesn’t include the thoughts running through my head while doing chores). I would have ‘let them get on with it, they’ll find out in time,’

In Conclusion
You will, I expect be holding fast to your beliefs that your opposition to Israel is the right course for you to take, that this is not a passing phase in the summer of 2024. If this is your choice may I make a plea in these points.

Remember the target is the current Intolerant Fanatical Government, whose brothers in Hate reside in Tehran, who gifted Trump the playbook on how to get The Big Seat. The target is not the Israeli people. And curses upon those who tell you it is the Jews. The target is the government, don’t forget.

Reach out across the distances to those in Israel who are angry at their government and wish to be rid of it. Support them. If they are demonstrating , then you should be in sympathy to. Have them realise there are friends out there, that they don’t have to circle the wagons with the unsavoury fanatics. Israeli politics is another complexity, one shove in the correct direction can bring change.

Research just who are the internal oppositions in Israel, the ones who for long years have tried to preach the creed of accommodation and partnership with Palestinians who also tread that dangerous road of recrimination and violence from within their own communities. For too long The Western Groups supporting Palestinians have not taken that road. When it is the blindingly obvious one.

We must prepare for The Future. Your Future. The Future of Children, Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren.

10th April 2024: A Very Special Day – Eid al-Fitr

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Eid_al-Fitr_prayer,_Suleymaniye_Mosque,_Istanbul_-_Aug_30,_2011

Foreword: This post will be brief. The reason being this is a day celebration within Islam but my knowledge and perceptions are woefully inadequate to give full respect and value to its meaning. The reason for this post however is Universal. To Reach Out In Respect To Neighbours . Therefore for any readers who are Muslims my apologies for anything I may have missed, mis-understood or simply made an error on, these were unintentional. 

To those of us who are not of the Islam faith, Ramadan has passed a month of fasting, reflection and also community. Eid al-Fitr is a holiday of the breaking of the fast of Ramadan. The dates involved are decreed with reference to the Islamic Calendar. Eid al-Fitr begins at sunset on the night of the first sighting of the crescent moon (there are conditions when the following day is applicable- my lack of complete knowledge on the subject restrains me from trying to give details) . Therefore the date is not one specific day say like 4th July, or 25th December. In fact if you should Google the Celebration you will find some hits which shows 9th – 10th April. 

As I understand it, there are variations on the celebration, taking into account Communities, Customs and which aspect of Islam is adhered to. Suffice it to say like many a holiday there would be a gathering of family, community and joy.

Therefore let us firstly wish our neighbours, friends, fellow communities members who are celebrating Eid al-Fitr a peaceful, happy, joyous day. Let us respect their right to do so. Let us respect their belief which brings them to this day of celebration. Let us not waste time and spirit over the matter of who believes what or not believes what or why. This can easily lead to sin and damage. Let us be of open heart and generous wishes. 

And secondly in more solemn mind. Let us all think of those Muslims in Gaza, The Sahel region of Saharan and sub Saharan Africa, Sudan, India, China, Rohingya in refugee camps, Syria to name but a few regions where there is suffering, the burdens are heavy and maybe celebration of this day is at best very sparse at worst impossible. 

May we keep on Hoping for better times. Even when the evidence seems to suggest otherwise.

I conclude with a simple wish: May Your Eid al-Fitr be well with you and yours.